Get the groundwork right — and watch your mission grow on its own terms.

We’re a co-op of senior consultants — in fundraising, philanthropy, peer support, and strategy — who do the essential work first: an honest read of where you actually stand, before anyone hands you a plan.

Start with a conversation See how we work

Not a roster of freelancers. A team that does the groundwork together.

Most consulting starts with a plan and hopes the foundation holds. We start the other way around. Before any strategy gets written, the co-op works together to answer the questions that actually decide whether a plan will work — are you ready for a campaign, what does your community need, what should you be measuring, can your systems carry the weight. Then the right specialist among us takes it from there, and hands it over working.

Our team has built and led development at, among others:

George Mason University The National Cathedral Appalachian Voices UVA · Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture Branch Museum Girl Scouts of Virginia Duke University

Four practices · one standard

Senior expertise, in the area you actually need it.

Leigh Harrison, Ph.D.

Philanthropic Advising

For funders and the organizations they back: high-impact giving strategy, grantee development, campaign readiness, and showing funders the results they want to see.

Explore → Joy Rush

Impact Growth

For new and growing nonprofits without a development team: the CRM, donor pipeline, board, and event systems that let giving grow without burning out your staff.

Explore → Sarah Clark Wood, Ph.D.

Research, Resilience, and Peer Support

For recovery, resilience, education, and community organizations: trained peer support, program design, community needs assessment, and measuring what truly matters.

Explore → Elizabeth Wilson Clark

Strategic Development

For leaders and boards: turning expertise, reputation, and relationships into durable assets, sound positioning, and a board that actually leads.

Explore →

How we work · the work before the plan

Groundwork: get the answers before you write the plan.

Most strategic plans falter because they skip the part that matters most — an honest read of where you actually stand. Before you set a direction, the whole co-op works together to give you that read. You leave with a grounded picture, and a plan worth writing.

Campaign Readiness

An honest look at whether you’re positioned to launch — and what to shore up first.

Leigh

ii.

Community Needs

What your community actually needs, where health, education, and other determinants of thriving meet.

Sarah

iii.

Measuring What Matters

Define real success — and the impact funders want to see — before you’re asked to prove it.

Sarah + Leigh

iv.

Development Systems

Is your CRM, pipeline, and board ready to support the plan you’re about to make?

Joy

Strategic Foundation

Clarity on your value, position, and direction to anchor everything else.

Elizabeth

No obligation to continue.

The groundwork stands on its own.

Start a Groundwork conversation

Let’s talk

Tell us where you stand — and what you want to be true a year from now.

We’ll point you to the right starting place: a Groundwork conversation, a live Impact Hour, or a specific practice. No pressure to go further than makes sense.

Start with a conversation Join the next Impact Hour

Impact Hour is a free, 60-minute live Q&A — bring your real fundraising, board, or event questions and leave with specific next steps.